Moriarty the Patriot

Moriarty the Patriot is an interpretation of the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This interpretation surrounds the origins and exploits of Professor James Moriarty, alongside his entourage, while we are introduced to Sherlock and the rest of the protagonist characters we all know and love as the show progresses. Part one of season one has ended with the second part to begin in a few months at the time of this writing. In short, this is a thoroughly engaging show to watch and I would highly recommend it. If you would like to know why, I encourage you to read on.

This past year has seen a decent amount of Sherlock material released compared to other years. Kabukicho Sherlock, and Enola Holmes being prime examples. Kabukicho Sherlock is an interesting contemporary setting for the narrative to take place in with some fascinating character quirks infused to it. Enola Holmes is a fundamental misunderstanding of the characters, and I am in the process of diagnosing the film in quite the bit of detail on my YouTube channel. Then there is Moriarty the Patriot, which is the best of the lot this year, and by quite the wide margin. In fact, it is easily one of the best shows I've seen this year in general.

The show starts in a nonlinear fashion, establishing Moriarty's method, his origins, and his goals. Each of these are executed with a razor sharp focus. Though not only do we get Moriarty's origin, we also get the traditional Sherlock Holmes introduction, A Study in Scarlet, with a twist that is quite fascinating to see unfold. The show starts off in an episodic, crime of the week, manner before it gradually transitions into the traditional multi episode arc format. The episodes are tight with barely a second wasted at any point. The plots are well laid out, and the mysteries are fascinating to see unfold. In short, it is incredibly efficient and effective writing.

The characters are well defined. They all have a clear goal that they are each working towards. They behave in a consistent manner to how they are introduced, and this is great because this creates a solid personality that we can attribute to the character, which in turn helps immerse us in the story further. Each of the characters personalities are quite different which allows us to tell the characters apart in a simple manner, while making how these characters interact quite fascinating. Beyond that, with such well defined characters to work with, exploring how they clash becomes just as interesting. The interactions between Sherlock and Moriarty are particular highlights in the show because we get to see just how well the personalities and deductive minds compliment and clash with each other, showing their similarities and differences.

From a visual standpoint, the character designs are fantastic as each one creates a silhouette that immediately helps you identify who they are at a glance, while the range of colour infused to each of the characters help them stand out from the rest of the crowd. Despite the fact that the overall look is similar to a traditional anime, the way the show really stands out is in the various styles they employ the colours. Altering the mood of the show completely at the tip of a hat effectively at every instance. It enhances the tone of the scenes and helps create an understanding of what each of the different colour changes mean in the context of the show.

The final aspect of the show that helps round off the positives is the stellar soundtrack which perfectly compliments the show at every turn.

There are some negatives that I have an issue with, however to talk about them in detail would be to go into spoilers. So what I will say is that the negatives of the show are incredibly minor when compared to the overwhelming positives, plus it is a show that treats the characters with a great deal of love and respect. These are the reasons why I recommend Moriarty the Patriot.